Costume call - planning a costume for a dance performance

Dance Magazine, March, 1998 by Marian Horosko

The performance date is set, your shoes are ordered, and now it's time for a costume call. Before you're judged on what you wear onstage, here are some suggestions for making flattering choices and ways to preserve your costume.

Costume catalogs are available for all forms of dance, with an enormous choice of design at reasonable cost. Gone are the days when mothers and relatives began sewing months ahead of a performance date. Nonetheless, allowing four to fourteen weeks prior to your performance is still required by most costume companies.

If you need advice, don't hesitate to ask catalog costumers. They offer suggestions to disguise figure faults: heavy thighs need a loose, fringed skirt; currently favored pastel-colored, long ballet skirts with matching leotards require a slim body. They'll tell you what's "hot": best colors for jazz and tap routines are black or dark fluorescent hues; current fashion colors are yellow and orange; and favorite aerobic and acrobatic designs use bold abstract shapes. Almost all costumes are available in nylon net, although these soon lose their form: stretch fabrics are washable and wonderful; and cut velvet is elegant and flattering.

For the most part, the choice of costume is the teacher's, although parents frequently provide some input. Costumes for young students should always be age-appropriate and tasteful. "Times have changed," laments one costumer. "With the influence of suggestive costuming on television and in movies, there is no longer any sensitivity to a young person's natural growth, and some choices are too provocative."

Sequins, glitz, and glamour fabrics can he suitable, depending upon the routine and the age of the performer.

Costumes for groups are inexpensive and disposable, although they can be worn two, three, or more times if carefully tended. All can be worn at least once again for Halloween, other events, or resale.

If you want an exclusive design, consult someone like New York City-based costume designer Rosemary Ponzo. "I like to first meet the talent," Ponzo says, "and establish a personal relationship that enables me to know what is suitable, flattering, and original to that performer. I need to determine which colors and fabrics are best for that performer and what kind and how much movement is involved. Lighting, scenery, and the director's wishes are also important. Costumes should never overpower the performance.

"A costume too full of material," she adds, "can obscure the body. The wrong color can be distracting. A costume with too many pieces can make an audience uncomfortable. A long body can wear an empire line well; an all-black leotard or black pants and shirt on a male dancer needs a touch of color at the neck or waist, or his costume choice could be in a shimmering fabric.

"Comfort when moving is the most important factor in a dance design. Some designers have been clever in creating beautiful, structurally original and comfortable stage wardrobes: Halston's long pajama-leg gowns for Martha Graham; Karinska's immovable bodices for tutus; and Irene Sharaff's discreetly sexy costumes for stage and screen."

Hate your costume? Is it one you'd like to improve with scissors, dye in the bathtub, or throw out the stage door? If you haven't paid for it, don't touch the wardrobe! Speak to your artistic director about it. The costume is not yours. Dancers have been fined or fired for destroying or changing designs.

Wearing clear nail polish is okay; red is not acceptable; your hands will look like red claws from the audience -- hardly consistent with any role except that of a monster. Nor is the wearing of personal jewelry. You can always give your rings, earrings. and necklaces to your stage manager for safekeeping. If he has not warned you about wearing personal items on stage, he or she is remiss.

Costume-room manners are part of your training. Following your preperformance warm-up, makeup, and hair preparations, and after you've put on clean tights and shoes, the costume, as part of your role, is put on last. If you are fortunate enough to have a dresser, show your professionalism by letting her or him take the costume off the rack, help you step into it, and zip, hook, or Velcro the closings. If you are helping someone zip up, be sure to put a finger between the closure and the performer's skin as you zip.

Count the pieces before you go onstage if you have several items to wear. That way you won't find yourself missing an item. Remember, whether you do or don't own the costume you're wearing, it deserves respect and care. You must never eat, sit, or smoke in your costume; but you may try it on early or al another time to work with it and become familiar with its construction or to wear at a costume call onstage -- the official parade and last check before dress rehearsal.

Upon your return from performing onstage go directly to the costume room where the dresser will help you remove the costume and place it on a hanger. (Pavlova's contract specified that twelve wire hangers were to be placed in her dressing room -- unheard of costume care at that time.) Ponzo recommends cloth-covered hangers interfaced with cotton for hanging delicate fabrics. Under no circumstances should you leave the costume on the floor or in your dressing room. Report any weak spots such as loose hooks, overly stretched elastics, or missing decorations. (By the way, tip your dresser about $20 for a week of service and about $5 for a single performance. These theater people spend their day mending, ironing, and cleaning costumes, and are frequently the last to leave at night with the stagehands.) The magic of split-second costume changes executed in the pitch-black of backstage are a tribute to their efficiency.